Any Land Hermit Crab Owners

[Gill]

Thanks for the links and info. I was mostly looking for the hardware end - none of the sites I read mentioned heating pads, among other things, and I haven't seen any at the pet stores around here. I'll be near Lansing tomorrow, and there's a huge pet store there that might have them.

Decoration wise I was going to use some old aquarium decorations (driftwood, fake caves, some rigid fake plants) and some rock shelves for climbing space.

Would a glass aquarium hood work in place of screen or mesh (was thinking to hold humidity in)? If not, I have a roll of window screen in the basement I could cut to fit.

Thats Fine. I am using a Glass Lid on Tiny Tims cube to stop him climbing out and retain heat and moisture.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Yay! I just picked up three C. clypeatus.

Is a temp of 78F too high for them? The humidity is at 80% as well.

 

[Gill]

Yay! I just picked up three C. clypeatus.

Is a temp of 78F too high for them? The humidity is at 80% as well.

a little, mine like it warm but not too warm and humid.

mine sit in full sun al day so a don't have to heat them seperately. wait for OP as she keeps the heated on there own.

 

[marg]

Great news on your new hermies.
Corleone if you check my side out we have an online shop now, we sell heatmats and lots of foods for hermies etc.

Ab-Crab sore

 

[Corleone]

Unfortunately I'm in the US, so I probably can't buy through you. I've got the tank set up well, I think. Used a reptile under-sand heat pad. So far I've only seen one healthy crab in a store, and it was on hold for a buyer already, so it might be a while before I get mine. Not sure about shells, though. I did buy a mixed bag of several sizes and scattered them - is that about what I should do?

 

[jennakid]

<i>

lmao, i used to have them.
but a problem that i had with them
when they shell change. they always die because there out of their shell too long.
then the next morning i see a hermit crab body without a shell on it. lol
but besides that.
hermit crabs are cool.
im always scared that they will bite me with their claws.
lol
omg. once a hermit crab got out of the tank somehow.
and it was walking around our house for like a whole day. then we found it.
lol
there pretty cool.
i just hate when they bite.

xo

 

[marg]

What i do is keep all the shells in one place in the tank, you need shells the size of the hermits you have got plus some bigger one for when they grow, boil them for 5 mins leave to cool then wash in the salt water you use for your hermies and place in your tank, they should love hugging them and taking them for a test drive etc. if you wash the empty shells every now and again to make sure there not full of sand your hermies should love them.

When a hermie changes shells it should be so fast you almost miss it, if there staying out of their shells then theres something wrong, as long as you have plenty of the right shells for them and they aren't full of sand your hermies should be fine.


Try here for heatpads its in the US [URL="http/www.petdiscounters.com/c13/c26/Crab-Island-Heat-Mat-p2118.html"]http/www.petdiscounters.com/c13/c26/Crab...-Mat-p2118.html[/URL]

 

[rosepetalbed]

Hi all new here joined the site cause i have a few questions about The Albino African clawed frog!! But noticed this forum and I am an hermit crab addict so had to peek hehe but also wanted to mention a site i love and use (not sure where i would be without) lol www.hermitcrabassociation.com and like this site need to register in order to fully use the site.....can promise won't be disappointed

 

[marg]

Hiya rosepetalbed, welcome to the forum, a handsome looking hermie you have there, how long have you kept hermits for?

 

[rosepetalbed]

Thanks for the welcome I have had hermit crabs a total of 3 years first year however I learned I was taking care of them all wrong....

 

[marg]

You in the US? we found the same, i've had mine just over a year and the information given by the pet shop was all wrong, so had to do lots of reading on the net.

 

[rosepetalbed]

Hi and yes I am in the US.... Massachusetts So many pet stores are mislead about hermit crabs....had to rescue quite a few I have a big heart

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I've never once seen my crabs go into the water dishes, is this normal?

 

[marg]

Hi and yes I am in the US.... Massachusetts So many pet stores are mislead about hermit crabs....had to rescue quite a few I have a big heart

And you guys have had them much longer then us in the UK, and still your pet shops are no better, we have just the same problem here but hope to educate them. It must feel like your hitting your head against a brick wall.


TylerFerretLord can i ask how long you have had your hermies? its not normal, mine love a bath and love to drink, do you have both drinking water and salt water for them?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

About two weeks now. They eat, and come out sometimes in the evening, but during the day they hang out under the log I have in there.

Up until rereading this topic I was under the impression that C. clypeatus didn't require access to saltwater, as they're a more inland species and the site I read about caring for them only mentioned that C. compressus needed it.

Think that could be the problem, the lack of a source of saltwater?


I'm keeping them in a ten gallon until I can upgrade to a longer tank. It has ~4" of that compressed coconut bedding(Eco-Earth, I think?), the temp is usually 78F-80F during the day and 74F-76F at night. Humidity is stable at around 80%.

I feed them basic hermit crab food, but I give them stuff like fruit and lettuce too. They really like apple. I change their water daily.